Gladys Bailin (born 1930) is a

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, dancer, and instructor. She studied and worked at the Henry Street Playhouse in New York, joined the avant-garde, modern dance company of Alwin Nikolais and later taught at and became the first female Distinguished Professor at Ohio University.

Early life and career

Gladys Bailin was born in New York City on February 11, 1930. As a child she took piano, dance, and voice classes. At age eight she began attending classes at the

Henry Street Playhouse Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

. She trained and worked at the Playhouse from the 1940s into the 1960s. At the Henry Street Playhouse Bailin met Alwin Nikolais in 1948. She graduated from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

in 1952. She performed with the Nikolais company as well as the

Murray Louis Dance Company Murray Louis (November 4, 1926 – February 1, 2016) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Life Louis was known as one of the most influential American modern dancers and choreographers. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he grew up in Manh ...

. She toured with both companies throughout the United States and internationally.

Teaching

From 1966 to 1972, Bailin taught at the

New York University School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ...

(now the Tisch School). During the 1960s she also performed with Don Redlich and company. She joined Ohio University in 1972 to develop the dance program. She was the Director of the School of Dance there from 1983 to 1995. Bailin influenced scores of students over the years. The duo

Dancenoise Dancenoise is an American performance art duo created by Anne Iobst and Lucy Sexton. Dancenoise entered the New York and Washington, D.C., art and club scene in 1983, performing at venues such as WOW Café, the Pyramid, 8BC, Performance Space 122, ...

, Anne Iobst and Lucy Sexton, studied with Bailin at Ohio University and became a staple of the East Village nightclub scene in the 1980s. They cited the Nikolais influenced dance instruction of Bailin leading to their interest in using props, visuals, and costumes in their performances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailin, Gladys 1930 births Modern dancers Dance in New York City American female dancers 20th-century American dancers 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators Living people

Early life and career

Teaching

See also

References